We're off... almost

It's hard to believe our time in NZ has gone by so quickly. We spent our last couple of days touring north of Auckland going from the east coast to the west coast and back again. Everytime we think we've seen all types of scenery we find something new... this time the giantic sand dunes north of the Bay of Islands on the east coast. Absolutely incredible! Then we drove on to the last forest of virgin kauri trees - enormous, amazing! They're only 1500 years old or so and still growing. John is hugging one of the babies. Then it was back to the west coast again...

This morning we packed up, then spent a few hours at the Auckland Botanical Gardens- a great place to while away a few hours (much better than the next 12 hours we expect to spend on the plane!). The only good thing about the trip back is that we're leaving at 7 at night, today which is Tuesday in NZ, and arriving before noon on the same Tuesday in LA. I'm sure we'll feel younger for the experience!

Next blog will be stateside...

Northland...

So was the fishing successful? Yes, in that the John's can now say they went fishing in New Zealand and saw fish. And even though they didn't catch anything (the minimum size to keep was over 2 feet) they had a good time trying and supported the local economy.

Moving on to kiwi country we took a fascinating tour of a kiwi orchard. Unfortunately, we're just before harvest season (or perhaps I such say fortunately for they might have commandeered us into helping with the harvest - 20,000 laborers are needed for the 10 week harvest season that starts in April). All along we thought the kiwis we'd been buying in the markets were from NZ when, in fact, we've been eating Italian kiwis. Take a closer look at the photo to the left. The tall shrubs are windbreaks that you see planted all over NZ - it must be a VERY windy country! We never did see the machine that keeps them trimmed. To the right is the kiwi orchard. The crates through the opening are only a tiny tiny part of the crates that will be used for harvest. And the round thing to the left is the "kiwi cart" that you ride in for the tour (Tourism is BIG business in NZ!) The kiwi season lasts until the beginning of June and kiwis can be kept in cold storage for up to 8 months. NZ has the equivalent to a patent on golden kiwis so if you find those in the market you can rest assured they came from NZ.

We also visited Goat Island where NZ has one of its oldest marine reserves. Even from the rocky shore you can see scores of fish. If you have a wet suit and snorkel you can swim with the fish. It was beautiful and great fun.

A note to John & Judy's staff... we've found a new name for their collision repair business -- "Twinkle Tow Panelbeaters" (much more memorable than Red's Body Shop!)

Only two more days in NZ... the time has flown!

Casting practice...

Yesterday we drove the "Forgotten Highway" from Stratford to Turangi. Those folks who think the south island is the more beautiful of the two have probably not taken this route. The terrain is very different from other places in NZ with very steep but relatively short mountains ridged in circles with paths made by the sheep over years and years and years. (If you look close at those little white spots - those are sheep.) Lots and lots of sheep but very few people.
We stopped in Whangamomona - it declared itself an independent republic a few years ago - something about a feud between districts as to who got to claim them, so they just declared themselves independent. If you choose you can even buy a passport from them. Other than a cup of coffee and perhaps a meal at the hotel, there's really nothing else except scenery for a couple of hours in either direction. It's probably not more than 40 miles either way but the road is so narrow, windy, steep that it takes a looooong time to get any where. If you're looking for peace and quiet this is definitely a part of world you should consider!

Last night and tonight we're in Turangi, the "trout fishing capital of the world". We did have one the biggest rainbow trout I've ever seen for dinner last night. Over two feet long - I even had to cut off the head so it would fit on the grill. (Sorry to report that the John's did NOT catch him... it was a gift from our motel owner.) However, the men have been out plying the waters and have SEEN some fish thanks to the loan of some waders and proper outfitting by the shop across the road. Dry fly fishing is not really done here. Instead they use some sort of two fly system where one fly drops to the bottom and the other floats on top dragging the other along. They have 3 more hours left on this fishing license so we'll see what happens. WAIT! Is that Judy in the photo? Did she catch a fish?! I'll never tell...

The motels here are interesting - much different than we have in the states. We've been staying almost exclusively in what they call "2 bedroom units" that are like small apartments. Really very convenient for us. The shopping sections of towns are nice as well - what our downtowns were like 30 or more years ago before the US developed a love for malls. The buildings are interesting (a mix of styles) and the shops are locally owned although most things are expensive by our standards. Judy was just reading an ad this a.m. for a Kitchen Aid mixer - $899 NZ but that's still at least twice as much as we'd pay. Luckily we aren't in the market for such a mixer...

Underneath a volcano...

We have now arrived on the north island and spent yesterday in Wellington, the nation's capital. Took the train in from our motel as the stop was just behind our motel which made it very convenient (although a bit noisy at times in our room - okay it was a lot noisy at times in our rooms!) However, the motel was neat in that it was named for the "Bucket Tree" in the yard - one of New Zealand's protected, historic trees. This one, even though it looks like one tree, was at one time multiple cypress trees planted together. The result now is a gigantic tree and the "officials" keep the tree pruned so it looks like a giant inverted bucket. There were three cars, including ours, parked under it with room for more. A really magnificent tree.

Anyway, windy Wellington (very windy!) is charming. We spent most of the day in the Te Papa Museum, the country's national museum. Very unique both in terms of the building and the exhibits. They make an effort to display and educate on all things uniquely New Zealand. We were won over immediately by the sculpture display on the 6th floor which included a 1962 VW van (steering wheel on the right side of course) pulling a Westphalia camper. It wasn't Tillie's yellow but the nice green you see.

Today we've been traveling north to spend the night in Strafford underneath a volcano that hasn't erupted in 350 years which means it's long overdue to blow again. No one seems concerned so we aren't either. It does put us in easy driving distance of where the John's want to go fishing tomorrow. Judy & I have already decided we'd rather do laundry!

On to the north island...

For the first time since the first day we arrived we had rain which is good for NZ as many parts of the country are under a drought. The two John's once again came up with no fish so we relied once again on lamb for dinner. Judy & I went with them to take pictures but ended up never leaving the car and even then, we killed hundreds of sand flies that managed to enter with the doors were open. Sand flies are a bit like black flies and are AWFUL and bite!!! If you heard about two women going crazy in NZ in a car, that might have been us. We were semi-hysterical by the time the guys returned (they took the bug repellent with them...) Okay, I did find one photo of the guys (or should I say blokes) leaving the river they were fishing on after we left the lake. For some reason all the sand flies seem to have been at the lake and we weren't bothered by them here. (Of course the fish weren't bothered by the John's flies either...)

This morning we went to a wonderful farmer's market before coming to the ferry terminal. Fresh organic omelets, fresh fruit crepes, breakfast sandwiches with great bacon & veggies. And we loaded up on fresh fruits & veggies for the trip north. The produce down here has been
GREAT!!!

Still moving north...

You will be relieved to know we can now eat a kiwi properly... slice it in half around the middle (not stem to end), then scoop out pieces with a small spoon and eat it. Much, much easier and neater than peeling it.

We spent yesterday in Hanmer (spelled correctly I might add) Springs, home of thermal springs for the south island. It also has, as does everyplace in NZ, any number of walks & trails to take. Judy & I had our picture taken at the top of the hill on the edge of town just as proof that we actually made it to the top (a walk steeper and longer than we had envisioned!). Of course a good walk also gives you an excuse to "take the baths" and, if you're like Judy, enjoy one of their massages (it's a wonder we were able to peel her off the table once it was over, she was so relaxed!) We are all, of course, completely rejuvenated!). The town runs the baths and they do a very good job of it with several different soaking pools of different temperatures and different levels of minerals. We did most of them and John even joined the kids in the water slide portion (now we know where to send him every few years for a "redo").

Today we stopped at New Zealand's longest swinging foot bridge. I'm the one that's afraid of heights but this didn't bother me at all, I guess because the wire rope hand holds on either side were plenty study. John, however, was petrified and almost didn't do it. He's such a card that the rest of us had a hard time taking him seriously. (It took a couple of beers at the local hotel to set him right again!) I was even up for taking the chair swing back across the gorge (look to the right of the bridge in the photo to see someone just starting across) but $20 for a 15 second ride was too steep for my blood plus there was a 50/50 chance we might have to carry John back across....

Back on terra firma the John's are gearing up to do a bit more trout fishing. We'll see if we eat tonight or not...

Traveling north...

Good news for Karol... haggis does exist in Dunedin (although we chose NOT to imbibe!). And one brewery makes a type of beer named Brewski ( KK thought he had dibs on that name....) And there's always the statue of Robert Burns ("head" pigeon is optional...)

We had hoped to see Royal Albatross (BIG birds - they stand almost 4 feet high with wing spans up to 9 or 10 feet) but the winds weren't blowing well and apparently they need a LOT of wind to get airborne. However, we did see plenty of sea lions, enjoyed the beautiful coastal drive shared with an antique Jaguar group, all driving their cars with the hoods down. The road is probably narrower than it looks, hugging the shore for several miles without guardrails (not for the faint of heart...)

Yesterday we stopped for lunch at the Criterion Hotel, a very old pub in Oamuri and wandered around their wool district. Most of NZ's wool goes to China (doesn't everything?). The photo shows one of their wool warehouses and you can just make out the bales of wool through the doorway.

Last night we were in Timaru, a large port city. We were not all that impressed until we went for our evening walk and happened upon their croquet club (one of 3 clubs they have). Two of their members were having a round of croquet golf and invited us to watch. Looked like fun so perhaps we need to do a bit of leveling to our lawn back home so we can "give it a go".

Our friends Paul & Inez had highly recommended we take in the Pegasus Bay Winery for lunch so, closing our eyes to the prices today, we munched our way though the most enjoyable lunch we've had so far sitting at a table on their lawn on a beautiful day and enjoying a bottle of wine.

Springing along...

One cannot go to Queenstown without at least going to look at where bungy jumping started and watch a few of those crazy folks continuing the tradition. If fear of heights doesn't stop you then perhaps the tariff ($160 per jump) will. We watched 3 people (all women, all young whatever that means) jump. Another young woman jumped holding as tight as anyone could to her male tour leader. And another young woman chickened out (she did more than I would have done just by standing up on that bridge on the ledge). It was exciting to watch I must say.

On to beautiful Te Anau where we stayed on a lake for two nights so we could take a day cruise on the fiords at Milford Sound. If you take the word spectacular and notch it up ten fold it doesn't begin to describe the beauty of the sound. We were lucky as they were in a drought (their 8th day without rain - it rains about 190 days out of the year) and just had a pleasant cloudy day. Straight ahead in the photo is the small town of Milford Sound with it's own small airport. We were in awe of the pilots who were able to fly between the mountains and land their planes!

Driving out of their rugged, rain forest area we went the scenic route (not that everything in this country isn't scenic!) to flat Invercargil (where we had tried to get on a Habitat build but they already had enough volunteers by the time we called). This is the house the volunteers worked on - good job!

The tourist books don't give very high marks to the city but we found it delightful. It's filled with parks and their Queens Park in the heart of the city is fantastic complete with all sorts of gardens (the roses are spectacular right now), an honest to goodness croquet court, and even a small animal park for children. The kids were quite impressed with how much John could sound like a pig.

Leaving there we again took the scenic route along the coast through the Caitland area. For this trip, it's as far south as we will go (or have ever gone in our lives). Many of the settlers here (there still aren't many) were from Scotland. And you can see why since it looks very much like Scotland with great hills and pastures filled with sheep going down to the sea. They seemed to have forgotten how to make haggis (perhaps a good thing) since it doesn't appear on any menus.

We're now in Dunedin for the day before heading north along the eastern coast. Again we seem to very lucky in avoiding the rain!

Zigzaggin across New Zealand

Words cannot describe how beautiful and how diverse New Zealand is. Christchurch (like all the guidebooks say) is very English which they promote (don't look for us on the boat - we opted to "stroll").
After touring around Christchurch (John even took us to a bit of Sunday service in the cathedral where we learned not to "smack the kids"...) we headed to South Bay area to give the guys some driving experience on the hairpin curves on narrow roads on verrrrry steep grades. There are encouraging signs on all these roads - our favorite to date... "The Faster You Go, The Bigger Mess You Make". But the views have been spectacular (enjoyed more by the passengers than the drivers). Judy & I sit in the back seat so we can keep an eye on the "Keckerheads" -our new name for the John's because they both have the same Keck family head when viewed from the back (and they have matching hats of course).
Anyway we've gone from flat plains to dry, California type mountains that lead to the sea, west across Arthur's Pass that looks like something out of our west with pristine lakes and steep, sharp mountains, to the Tasman sea on the west coast and inland again to areas that looks like the dry country north of Boise with high mountains ending in lakes. The difference with all this is that everything is so close together. This morning we were at the foot of a glacier in what looked like the Alps (except for the giant ferns growing everywhere) and tonight we're in Wanaka which is hot and much more arid. In the photos, the bay above is on the east coast, then the mountains in the middle, and then the pancake rock formations on the west coast.

The other curiousity is the lack of people and traffic. Less than a million people live on the whole south island and 2/3 of the western part of the island is owned by the government. Therefore... almost no development, few houses or villages for that matter, no billboards, all the bridges are one lane (whoever gets there first goes first) but most times there's no one coming so it's no big deal. One bridge we went over was used not only for car traffic but for the train as well - one assumes the train has priority.
The food here is wonderful as everything is in season and we've been able to keep stocked with fresh fruit and veggies from local stands. The motels come equipped with kitchens so Judy & I have been cooking the dinners to save a few dollars as food is very expensive. For example the simple fish and chips lunch we had today was $13 NZ dollars = about $11 US & that's per person for only a single portion of fish and some fries. A beer is $6.50 or more out. So we're drinking in. (The photo is NOT fish & chips but one of the best salads I've ever eaten!)
Tomorrow we head toward Queenstown and Melford Sound.
PS - Fur from possums is used here to make sweaters, socks etc. (usually combine it with merino and/or silk). Possums are not the same as our opossums. These are hairy little beasts a bit bigger than a cat with soft fur.

We have arrived!!!

Spent the day in LA prior to leaving at the Getty... incredible buildings as well as the art it contains! (Sorry, Wynne - we didn't get to your exhibit in Culver City...) And, as you can see in the photo, John couldn't quite warm up to the idea of going au natural in the California sunshine!

Thought seeing all that art would wear us out so we would sleep on that verrrrrrrrry long (12.5 hours followed by another 2 hours) plane rides. No such luck (but did get caught up on all those movies we'd missed in the theaters...). We think "No Country for Old Men" will get the Oscar - you heard it here first (or maybe not...) (Resting on my laurels!) This photo demonstrates the body's reaction to spending all those hours on a cramped airplane!

Anyway, back here in NZ where it is now Sunday morning we are listening the beautiful cathedral bells before going to hear their choir. Yesterday when we arrived it rained and blew all day so we went to the Anarctica Museum. Saw some of the world's smallest penguins being fed (except for Tubby who weighed in at twice the others and insisted on being hand fed on land) (Am sure this photo makes that perfectly clear. Can you believe this was the ONLY photo I took there? Must have been jet lag...) To experience the arctic weather it was only 17F with the breeze blowing in the "experience room" (it was much colder than that when we left NY!!!) - we skipped that part.

And, since it was so rainy and we were so sleepy, we bought local lamb and veggies and cooked in - a wise choice. It was John & Judy's 45th wedding anniversary but they were pushing zzzzz's by 6.

Today it is beautiful, sunny and warm for exploring Christ Church. We can see already why everyone loves New Zealand.

And we're off...

It's hard to believe that only two days ago we were in New York where the morning temp started at a balmy 1 degree with a not-so-gentle breeze. New Jersey was better (15) plus we were lucky enough to take to the air before the dreaded snow/ice reached Newark. Judy & I and our two John's are now in sunny LA where we (Judy & I that is) can show off our newly polished toes and we can pluck fresh limes from our friends' backyard tree. Life is good!

Tomorrow it's off to New Zealand for adventures from the world down under!!!

Home again, home again...

Back to beautiful upstate NY. We even have a bit of snow (kids in Florida would be jealous), to make it even prettier. It was sunny yesterday when we arrived. However, the January "thaw" seems to have ended. In fact it was 14 F. and the wind was "blowin' a gale" as they say in Maine. It did inspire us to unload Rambo VERY quickly. We must have unloaded a bit too quickly, however, as there are still a few things missing. One thing about these campers is there's a thousand and one cubby holes to put things. Our friends with the big rigs who live in them full time tell us they know they have things packed away that they've never been able to find.

Aside from having the water to barn frozen (luckily John was able to thaw it quickly without any breaks!) and piles of mail (Aren't vacations supposed to be free?! What are all these bills?!!!), things are returning to normal. Even our cat finally came out of hiding after we'd been home several hours. He then proceeded to "talk" non-stop until the wee hours of the night when I finally sent him to the basement and shut the door. (A little time away from his food dish wouldn't hurt either as he gained about 5 pounds while we were away. The same is, of course, true for John & me as well!)

I can hear you already... but... this is the last post I'll make until the middle of February. Two of John's cousins and ourselves are going on a trip to New Zealand. No tour for us. We're renting a car and exploring the islands on our own. Even though I'm NOT taking the computer, I will try to post news from "down under" when internet connections are available. Until then... stay warm if you're in the north, or cool if you're in the south.

Going north!

In spite of those suspicious white things in the air and piles of it in places on the ground, it's good to be going north. And Pennsylvania is one of the BEST places to stop, especially if your Uncle Jules (isn't that a great name?!) and some cousins happen to live around Allentown.

All over the south we looked for sources for fresh food. You would think with the weather as mild as it is, there would be farmer's markets everywhere. While we did find some citrus stands, no where did we find a farmer's market. We had to come all the way back north to Allentown for that. While it is winter and not much is growing, they still have a wonderful market with several butchers, fresh fish, homemade sausages, pickles, locally grown mushrooms, homemade pretzels & dogs in blankets (photo), homemade potato chips & veggie chips, nuts, dried fruit, locally roasted coffee, and several fresh veggie vendors. It makes a heart (and a stomach) feel good! So we loaded up in anticipation of the last leg of our journey and home.

Will Rambo start this morning????